


Internal Strife

by Garchomp445



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Bodysharing, F/F, Fusion, i don't know how i could possibly warn for this it's a little abstract, i guess that's not a tag, uh, w/e
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-17 20:46:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18106145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Garchomp445/pseuds/Garchomp445
Summary: A gallant, prodigious pegasus knight and her girlfriend decide to go on a romantic picnic. It's a rarity for them to go on a date, and they've perhaps prepared too much. But certainly not for every possibility.Written for Fire Emblem Femslash Week 2019, 3/10 to 3/16Day four: ProdigyDay five: Heirloom





	1. A fateful meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Aha, the traditional last four day ridiculously convoluted story. Every challenge would feel utterly incomplete without one. Aha I'm going to die. I'll post an explanation in the chapter notes!

A pegasus knight flew across a picturesque landscape. The sun was high in the sky, which was only marked by occasional giant, fluffy clouds. A perfect day for a picnic. The pegasus knight was accompanied by someone special on this outing. They landed with a flurry of tall grass. The hill she had picked was utterly sublime, a slight outcropping in an ocean of wildflowers and tall, purple prairie grass. There was a copse of thick, shady bushes that she tied the pegasus’ lead to. She brought out a patterned blanket, and a box full of their lunch. Once that was ready, she walked back to the pegasus.

She offered a hand to her girlfriend and helped her down. She was a calm woman with gray hair and a ready smile. They hugged for a brief instant, then parted just as smoothly. Her girlfriend moved to sit on the blanket, so she took her time stroking her pegasus. The pegasus had flown far to get here, and deserved all the pampering she could give it later. Their picnic would give it more than enough time to rest. The pegasus knight turned and sat down on the blanket. Her girlfriend smiled at the pegasus knight and recited

“The soft skies above/a sea of soft grass below/the softest is you.”

“That was excellent! I didn’t know you wrote haikus!”

The seated woman laughed, “How? I only recite one every day! Are you pulling my leg, Caeldori?”

The pegasus knight tried to say two things at once. The other woman went to steady her and said,

“Cordelia, are you okay? Are you feeling well?”

The pegasus knight tried to speak again, and spoke only garbled gibberish.

“Okay! I guess there’s a ghost in my body too! I definitely didn’t mean to move here. Ghost, can we cooperate here? Nod my head if yes.” She nodded vigorously. “Cool! Hey, so Caeldori, if you’re still in there, can you quiet down so I can talk to your ghost?”

The pegasus knight nodded, but not of her own volition. Cordelia spoke,

“I’m not a ghost, my name’s Cordelia! And Caeldori is in my body, not the other way around.”

“You look like Caeldori!”

“Well you look like my wife, Sumia! How do I know that you’re not a ghost!”

“Can I-”

Mitama interrupted, “No, Caeldori, I’m talking to the ghost!”

“I’m not a ghost!” Cordelia pinched her nose, “Can we at least talk without making baseless accusations?”

“They aren’t baseless! Ghosts can possess people, right? And bam, we’re both being possessed! Or, I mean, you’re doing the possession.”

Cordelia crossed her arms, “How do you know that ghosts can possess people?”

Mitama jumped, “Urk! Uh, it’s just common knowledge, right?”

“No it isn’t. Besides, shouldn’t I know if I were a ghost?”

“Maybe you died in your sleep! You might fall asleep/And never wake up again/Thus you are a ghost.”

“Ghosts have to die horribly. If I died peacefully, I wouldn’t turn into a ghost.”

“Ugh! Could you just get out of my girlfriend already?”

“No! This is my body!”

A different voice came from Mitama’s mouth, “We could all just be in each other’s bodies! I’ve done this before!”

“Sumia? You’ve… swapped bodies before?”

“That’s so cool!”

“Do you know how to reverse it?”

Sumia groaned, “Well, I didn’t cast the spell, but it can’t be that hard, right? I did it with Henry once.”

“Why?”

“Who’s Henry?”

Sumia sat back. She looked a little more relaxed, “He’s a dark mage, he was trying to teach me dark magic, but bodies have different magic aptitude. It made it easier for me to cast spells while I was in his body, since mine had so little mana. I learned a little, but it was too weird and I had him reverse it.” She fidgeted with her fingers, “So, this is weird, but it’s definitely possible for a dark mage.”

Mitama said, “Then the real question is whether we’ve angered a dark mage lately. I know we definitely haven’t upset Rhajat, I just saw her last week and she was fine. Sumia? That’s your name, right? How about you?”

“Yup, I’m Sumia, and the person sharing Caeldori’s body is Cordelia.” She smiled, which was mildly ironic since Mitama wouldn’t be able to see it, “I don’t really know any dark mages besides Henry, and he wouldn’t do something like this without permission.”

“Hold on. Mitama and I know of a lot of dark mages that could definitely hold a grudge against us.”

“Well, not really us specifically.”

Caeldori shook her head, “Thanks to my pegasus’ natural magic resistance, I’ve personally defeated hundreds of dark mages. It’s the best lead we have.”

Cordelia and Caeldori tried to speak at the same time, then both paused. They made a gesture to let the other speak first, then they both spoke at the same time.

Sumia sighed and said, “This might be a problem.”

“Yeah, they’re so similar they just talk at the same time.”

“Hey! We aren’t that similar!” They said in unison, “For example, I-” Their sentence ended in garbled words and weird noises. Then they let out a sharp whine. Sumia immediately pulled them into her lap and started stroking their hair.

“There, there. Let’s just take our time with this.”

Caeldori and Cordelia both grumbled at the same time, “The person who did this could attack at any second.”

Mitama scoffed, “That’s not likely. We’re in the middle of an open, sunny field. If someone could sneak through that, they’d be better than the finest Hoshidan ninjas.”

“You’re right. Thank you, Mitama.”

“Okay, this seriously might be a problem. I can’t tell you two apart. Could you try to put on a different inflection or something?”

“Maybe like this?” They both tried out the same country accent at once.

“Nope! Total failure!” Mitama smiled happily.

“Perhaps you could choose someone as the spokesperson?”

“Good idea, Sumia!” Mitama held up her left hand, and Sumia smacked it with their right hand.

“I couldn’t possibly-” They cut into each other, producing nothing but nonsense.

“Let’s just decide for them. I’ll flip a coin, heads is Caeldori, tails is Cordelia. Whoever it lands on is the spokesperson.”

Cordelia and Caeldori both felt a little uncomfortable about it, but it was a solution. Better than nothing. Mitama produced a coin from one of her pockets, and flipped it. She shouted,

“Tails! Okay, Cordelia, try saying something.”

“Uh, just anything?”

“Yup! Now, Caeldori! Say your favorite kind of cheese!”

“Cheese? I don’t eat that terribly often, Mitama. It’s much more common in Nohr than Hoshido.”

“You didn’t answer the question.” Mitama shook her head in fake consternation.

“She did speak, which is what you were looking for.”

“My thoughts exactly, Cordelia, thank you.”

They crossed their arms, a little pleased with themselves. Mitama smirked,

“See! You’re getting the hang of it.”

“Oh, it was a test? Thank you.” Their body bowed in perfect unison.

“Ah, you messed it up again! Be less coordinated!”

They both tried to speak at the same time, and Mitama stopped them with a wave of her hand, “Cordelia first, then Caeldori!”

Cordelia shook their head, “You seem to be enjoying your authority a lot, Mitama.”

“I am! But you need the push.” She narrowed her eyes, “You’re being weirdly critical, Cordelia- wait, was that Caeldori?”

Caeldori said, “It was definitely Caeldori. Are you saying you can’t tell me from her? Caeldori is a fine person, but we have some differences.”

“Aha, sorry, Cordelia? You were the one who spoke last?”

They both nodded, then stifled a giggle. Was this even a prank? They were just lying slightly to Mitama and Sumia. It was such a thrill to coordinate so perfectly on a prank that they hadn’t even questioned whether it was a good idea.

Sumia said, “Could we still enjoy the picnic together? We all worked hard on the food, it’d be a shame to let it go to waste.”

Mitama giggled, “Ha! I didn’t work hard. All I made was rice, it was super easy.”

“But the way you season the rice makes it unique, Mitama. Don’t discredit your own work.”

Cordelia chimed in, “Then we’ll make sure to doubly appreciate it!” She smiled, “Thanks for mentioning it, Mitama.”

“H-hey! I guess you’re welcome?”

Cordelia opened up the picnic basket. Inside were two tins, one which she didn’t remember packing, and of course plates and utensils. One of the tins looked familiar to Caeldori, and one looked familiar to Cordelia. They brought both out. Sumia opened one, Caeldori opened the other.

Caeldori nodded, “This is exactly what I remember preparing.”

“Yeah. There’s a few pies, a dozen cookies, a meat pie… Mmm, I’m already hungry.”

“Sumia, you brought more than one pie?” Cordelia leaned over, “Those are huge!” She smiled, “Were you expecting four people instead of two?”

“N-no! It wasn’t me!”

Mitama cackled, “But now you’re a suspect.” She tapped her own chest, “I’m wise to you, ghost.”

Sumia cried, “No! I’m not a ghost either!”

While they bickered, Caeldori stroked their chin. She whispered to Cordelia, “Wait, the food is a clue, right? Since we have both, that means the food didn’t fuse like we did.”

Cordelia whispered back, “Exactly! The fusion must’ve happened after we prepared the food.”

“It wouldn’t have been at the castle, since we have anti-magic protection,”

“And Sumia and I live in a very secure barracks,”

“So it must’ve been in the sky! Let’s tell Mitama and Sumia.”

Cordelia and Caeldori stood up and announced,

“Assuming our memories haven’t been tampered with, we must’ve fused mid-flight. The perpetrator could still be out there.” Cordelia pointed at the sky, “We should start our search immediately.”

Sumia shook her head, “Your pegasus is very tired. I’m sure you can make up the lost ground later!”

They flopped back down with a sigh, “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just hard to enjoy the meal with a threat still out there somewhere.”

“Ignorance is bliss/forget all of our worries/drown it in rice balls.”

Mitama had balled up some of her rice, dipped it in sauce, and was already eating it. Cordelia and Caeldori smiled. They joined in, but took the time in between bites to consult each other. Every interaction needed to be perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so: brief explanation for the bodysharing in case you're confused: Caeldori and Cordelia are sharing a body, Mitama and Sumia are sharing a body. They each see the other's body as the one corresponding to their world, so Cordelia sees Sumia, Mitama sees Caeldori etc. Both of them control each part of the body simultaneously, which is why their words got garbled. Your mouth can't pronounce two syllables at the same time. They can also choose to relinquish control whenever they want.  
> I'll try to be more detailed in the future, but I kinda rushed through the opening here! Sorry about that!


	2. Dancing Lights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Heirloom

Cordelia and Caeldori coordinated perfectly. They flew differently, a Hoshidan versus an Ylissean style, but they each excelled in different areas. Cordelia had a light hand on the reigns, but that let her adjust her weight for turns more easily. Caeldori had practiced a more upright stance during flight, so she was better at surveying the landscape. All of those skills were utterly useless when on the ground, screaming into their pegasus’ fur.

It was late evening, Mitama and Sumia were already half-asleep, and they had made no progress. Cordelia knew that her tiny understanding of dark magic wouldn’t be enough to find traces of it in mid-air, and they she let Caeldori go on a wild goose chase anyway. They inspected bushes, looked at particularly unusual birds, and wasted hours and hours. Cordelia whispered,

“I know this is frustrating, but if we take a break, we can come back refreshed. Can you show me around the castle?”

Caeldori sighed, “Sure. Castle Shirasagi is much more impressive in the daylight, but I think you’ll like the gardens.”

Caeldori took over locomotion. She guided their pegasus into the stables and gave it a pat on the head. It deserved a day or two of rest. Caeldori walked into the sky knight’s barracks. Some knights were having a discussion in the corner,

“I was flying to the east, and I saw this huge black cloud.”

“You mean a raincloud?”

“No! It was too low to the ground, and it didn’t look like smoke. It was inky and unnatural.”

“Did you report it to the commander?”

“No, I mean, I didn’t want to bother anyone…”

Caeldori stopped eavesdropping, and hummed to herself. As she left the barracks, she whispered to Cordelia,

“I don’t usually eavesdrop, I swear.”

Cordelia laughed, “Don’t worry, I do it too. There’s just something about us that loves drama.”

“Oh, we haven’t really had much time to talk, just the two of us, have we?”

“You’re right!”

A red-haired man who looked strikingly similar to Caeldori tapped them on the shoulder, and whispered,

“Caeldori? Are you feeling under the weather?”

Caeldori jumped and sputtered, “Aha, yes! I’m doing just fine!”

“You’re sure? If you’re talking to yourself, you may be suffering from auditory hallucinations.” Subaki was smiling, but there was deep concern in his eyes, “It pains me to admit it, but if you work too hard, that is a possibility.”

“I’m, uh, rehearsing for a play! I have to practice my lines, but it’s easier if I also say the companion lines. I usually try to do it in private.”

Subaki’s eyes lit up, ”Oh, of course! I didn’t even think about that. What play are you performing, and when’s the premiere? I’d love to attend.”

“No, it’s more an art project for some of our friends? But it’s called, uh,” Caeldori completely blanked, she nearly blurted out something horrendous, but her mouth instead said, “A midnight treatise. It’s a very grim play that Mitama wrote about death, a tragic love affair, and political intrigue.”

“How interesting! Would you like to get dinner together? You could tell me more about your play.”

“Thank you for the offer! I can’t tonight, I have to… polish… a gong… far away from here.” Caeldori nodded a lot more than necessary, Cordelia butted in, “It’s for the play, I also need to find Mitama later, have you seen her around?”

Subaki was still smiling, but he was staring very intently, “No, you said yesterday that you were going on a date with her today? Didn’t you just come back from that?”

Caeldori winced, “Ahahaha, yeah, just testing your memory, dad! See you around!”

She power-walked away from Subaki. Cordelia muttered apologies to her, then quickly shut up. They moved into a quiet corridor to catch their breath. Caeldori said,

“Okay! That wasn’t good. We should leave right now.”

“We can’t just walk back into the stables, he went in after us.”

“Oh! That’s great.”

“Caeldori, again, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, I didn’t have any better excuses. He’s so good at picking out lies, it’s a little scary.” She groaned, “Just, what will he think?!”

“It’s okay, we’re not doing anything bad. We just got caught up in someone’s spell. It happens to the best of us.”

“That is a bad thing! Somehow I failed to avoid this,” Caeldori gestured to herself, “And I’ve inconvenienced both of us.”

“We don’t have all the facts yet. We don’t know why this happened in the first place.” Caeldori sighed. Cordelia felt bad for her. “Maybe we could take a walk through the Shirasagi gardens?”

“Okay.” She stiffly returned into the main hallway. The magical lanterns flickered on, in a vivid array of reds and oranges. Cordelia gasped.

“Wow, you have magic lanterns all around the castle?”

“Oh, of course! They’ve very common here. In places there’s so many that you can’t tell it’s night at all. Here, the gardens will be far more impressive. These are just hall lamps.”

Caeldori guided them through the twisting corridors. Even the architecture itself was completely alien to Cordelia. The building had many arches, built-in wooden flourishes, huge paper reliefs, and water flowing from room to room. Cordelia could barely resist staring at an intricate trellis that served as a window. All of this must be so commonplace for Caeldori.

“Do you think you’ll be able to convince Mitama to write a play?”

Caeldori laughed, “Oh yes, your description sounds exactly like something she’d write! Especially if she could get me to play a villain.”

“Why is that?”

Caeldori swung around a pole, “She’s thinks I’m a goody-two-shoes! Which, isn’t wrong, but…”

Cordelia giggled, “I get the picture.”

The hallways they were taking were a little off the beaten path. Caeldori seemed to be purposely avoiding large groups of people. That was perfectly fair, she doubted Caeldori wanted a repeat of her run-in with Subaki. Caeldori started climbing a wall. She stuck her hands in what looked like decorations, but somehow supported their weight. They leapt onto a roof, then she balanced perfectly on the intricate tiles. The top of the roof was darker than the inside of the castle. Stars blinking far away were perfectly visible. Cordelia smiled,

“You know, it’s times like these that you really appreciate being a pegasus knight. Anyone can climb up to see the skies, but we live up there.”

“You’re right. I became a sky knight just because my father was one, but I never regretted it. See these wing charms?” Caeldori paused, halfway up a wall to take out a hair pin. She presented to her own eyes, Cordelia’s winged hair pins. “I got these from him. Apparently, being a sky knight has run in the family for a while.”

“That’s so strange, I have the exact same hair pins. But I received mine from a friend who was also in the force. Apparently they were passed down through her family, too.”

Caeldori put the hair pin back, “Oh? Your father wasn’t a pegasus knight?”

Cordelia laughed, “He’d never stoop so low. Besides, in my country, men can’t be pegasus knights.”

“Really? That’s weird.”

“Yes, I thought the same thing.”

“So why did your friend give your their family’s heirloom? It seems like a weird thing for a gift.”

Cordelia sighed. They reached the top of the wall, and Caeldori laughed,

“And here it is! The gardens of Shirasagi castle.”

Cordelia gasped as she took it all in. Multiple tiers of trees, hundreds of flowers, perfectly, perpetually in bloom, waterfalls that cast a dim mist on the lower tiers, and massive rock sculptures all caught her eye at once. The scene was lit by hundreds of teal lights. The lights sat under the boughs of trees, in stone lanterns close to the ground, or simply floating in mid-air. It was a garden like nothing Cordelia had ever seen. She stammered,

“H-how do those waterfalls work?” She pointed at a particularly red tree, “I-is that tree on fire? And there’s lights in the water! T-this is insane!”

Caeldori giggled, “The tree isn’t on fire, it’s just a trick of the light caused by rotating glass panes. I… don’t know how the underwater lights work, but I know our diviners and gardeners work very hard on all of it.”

“Caeldori. I didn’t know when I was going to say this, but now seems like a good enough time. I’m glad that we’ve had this time together. You’re an excellent person, and even in these circumstances, I’m so happy to get to know you.”

Caeldori put a hand up to her face, “Aw, Cordelia, that’s so sweet. I think highly of you too. I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better body buddy.”

Cordelia laughed, “Is that what it’s called? We need to tell Mitama and Sumia, that’s fantastic!”

“Yeah!”

A hand grabbed onto the tile right next to them, and a orange-haired ninja pulled himself up. Caeldori and Cordelia yelped. He said,

“Oh, perfect, Caeldori. Here, have these,” Asugi whipped out three lollipops like shurikens, “This,” he handed over a large bar of fudge, “And for Mitama if you see her,” He quickly handed her a similar assortment of sweets, “I haven’t seen her around anywhere.”

“Asugi? Uh,” Caeldori struggled to hold all the candy. Cordelia placed the lollipops one-by-one into their uniform.

“Sorry, gotta go, I have more sweets to pass out.” Asugi saluted and jumped off the roof.

“What?!” Caeldori scrambled to the edge of the roof, but he was nowhere to be seen. “That was. Strange. Sorry, he’s a friend, but he usually doesn’t act like that.”

“Not your dad this time?”

“Urk! No! Thankfully I only have one of those.”

Cordelia sat them down on the edge of the roof. She said,

“I actually have a friend who looks just like him. He’s just as generous with sweets, too.”

“That’s surprising, we hardly got more than a second to look at him.”

Cordelia puffed their chest out, “I pride myself on my observational skills.”

“Hey, same here!”

“So we both must know that we’re wasting our time here in Hoshido.”

“Yeah. If we want anyone who’s actually experienced in dark magic, we gotta go to Nohr.” Caeldori frowned, “I mean, there is one diviner here who practices curses, but…”

“There’s the issue of experience?”

Caeldori shook her head, “Maybe? I don’t really pay attention when she rants about hexes. She’s fun, and very kind to Mitama, but I don’t understand it.”

“Then let’s head to Nohr first. She can be our backup plan.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Cordelia leaned towards the gardens. She still couldn’t quite believe it was real. She announced,

“Caeldori, once we have our little problem figured out, you need to let me take Sumia here. She’d love this so much.”

“I agree completely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, i might've bitten off more than i can chew over this challenge. This fic will definitely not be finished by this saturday, it may even take me until monday! sorry!  
> (that's also the reason i updated the number of chapters from 3 to 5! i think this time it'll stick tho)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel Free to leave comments or kudos!


End file.
